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Barista at my local shop told me to skip tamping altogether
He said I was overcompressing the grounds and it was choking my shots. Tried it with just a light leveling tap yesterday and pulled the best espresso I've had in months. Anyone else ever get advice that goes against everything you thought you knew?
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the_jenny1mo ago
Wait, did he actually mean zero tamping at all or just way less pressure? Like you still gave it a good level but just skipped the full on press?
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thomas1051mo agoMost Upvoted
Yeah I actually watched that same video and I gotta say I tried it his way a few times. I completely disagree though because when I skipped the tamp altogether my shots ran way too fast and came out sour no matter what grind setting I used. The leveling part is fine but that full on press with like 15-20 pounds of force is what slows the water down enough to get a decent extraction in my experience. Maybe if you have a super fine grind or a fancy pre-infusion setup it works but with my basic machine zero tamp just made a mess.
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